DA BEST OF

On this day in 1996 Lesane Parish Crooks a.k.a Tupac Shakur a.k.a 2 Pac left this earth (allegedly).  Controversy, poet, revolutionary, MC, actor, prophet, role model (fuck what anybody else says), genius 2 Pac was all of these things.  Pac brought a divine insight to this thing we call hip-hop. Son of Black Panther, raised by the streets, Baltimore School of the Arts attendee Pac was raised in a complexity that would define his life and his music. An interesting thing happened in the wake of the passing of both 2 Pac and Biggie…hip-hop matured for a brief moment in time thus making them martyrs of sorts.  Since then it seems we have lost that maturity that Pac always strived for us as a people to achieve (minus the Death Row years). Read more…

Is Hip-Hop “coming back” over the last few years we have heard (primarily New York) rappers talking about brining Hip-Hop back.  There seems to be a rash of classic 90’s Hip-Hop reinventions either floating around or in the works.  Raekwon successfully reinvented his classic with Only Built for Cuban Linx 2 I’m first to admit its not the original but dayum good. Capone-n-Norega prepping War Repor 2 and everything leaked so far has that 90’s feel. Even AZ has spoken on his next album being Doe or Die 2 with a second installment of my personal them song Rather Unique with Pete Rock.

I’m in hopes that this movement will snowball into a total overhaul because this ringtone rap shyt is killing me.  That 90’s shyt had a feel to it that cant be packaged and manufactured.  To quote the great Avon Barksdale “the streets is the streets always” that’s where real hip-hop was born and need to be rebirthed to. It would also act as a re-education (no Lauryn) because the 106 & Park generation really missed out on some good shyt…..Thoughts? Ideas?